| StorageSite | UCL Special Collections |
| Level | Item |
| Reference Number | MS GERM/11 |
| Title | Sermons of St Bernard and Others (German, 15th century) |
| Date | 15th century |
| Description | Manuscript volume, 15th century, consisting of two, originally independent, manuscripts: 1) sermons of St Bernard, and 2) a collection of miscellaneous sermons. On paper, bound in leather over wooden boards, stamped with a fleur-de-lys motif. Impressions of two clasps visible (now missing). Similar in binding style to MS GERM 17.
With parchment manuscript fragment endpapers/pastedowns. There is evidence of glue and staining showing that both were originally pastedowns, but the adhesive has come away and both now appear as free endpapers. Front pastedown is blank on one side but has notes in a documentary script (late 14th century?) on the other, which would have been pasted to the front board and been hidden from view. Some text has transferred onto the board.. The rear pastedown is from a 14th century liturgical manuscript, likely a missal or breviary, which has text in a black gothic book hand with red capitals and rubrics. Much of the text from the verso of this leaf has been transferred onto the rear board and legibility is poor. Legibility of the recto is generally good, although the leaf has been cut with loss of text to the right hand side.
There are also strips of parchment in the centre of most gatherings acting as sewing support / quire guards. Some have a very small portion of text visible, indicating that they are also manuscript fragments. |
| Extent | 1 volume containing 237 leaves |
| AdminHistory | Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: born in 1090, probably at Fontaine-les-Dijon, near Dijon, Burgundy; monk and mystic; founder and abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux; among the most influential churchmen of his time; died at Clairvaux, Champagne, 1153; canonized, 1174. |
| CustodialHistory | According to Robert Priebsch, the manuscript may once have belonged to a monastery in Cologne. It belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), baronet, an antiquary and bibliophile whose collection included c60,000 manuscripts of various kinds. Various manuscripts were sold after Sir Thomas's death, some to the German government, and were dispersed to several libraries. Formerly Phillipps MS 643. Also bears the label 'Van Ess' inside the front cover. |
| Acquisition | Presented to University College London in 1911 by Mr Max Rosenhaim. |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| AccessConditions | The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking. |
| FindingAids | Dorothy K Coveney, 'A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of University College London' (London, 1935), which summarises the contents of the manuscript; N R Ker, 'Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries' (London and Oxford, 1969); handlist at University College London Special Collections. |
| PublnNote | Eva Lders, 'Sur berlieferung der St Georgener Predigten', Studia Neophilologica: a Journal of Germanic and Romance Philology, xxix(2) (1957), pp 200-49, and ibid, xxx(1) (1958), pp 30-77. |